CAMDEN, N.J. — When you run out of pitching in the American Legion Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, you’re in big trouble especially when you’re up against an opponent that doesn’t walk anybody and doesn’t make errors.

That’s the fate that befell Boyertown in Saturday afternoon’s third-round losers’ bracket game at Campbell’s Field as its season came to an end with a 12-1, eight-inning loss to Twin Valley.

The Bears (36-14-2) also hurt themselves with three errors during a six-run Raider third.

Boyertown’s shortage of experienced pitchers had been building up for a while, according to manager Rick Moatz.

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“It was from the last couple weeks,” he said. “It was leading up to this week. We didn’t even get a full game out of our big three.”

Then when Tyler Bauman had to come on in relief in the second inning of the opening round and Sean Pavlik in the fourth inning of the second, matters got even worse.

“Bauman did a great job in the first one and Pav (Friday),” Moatz added. “Today we were hoping we could get by as long as we could with (Brandon) Griesemer.”

But things quickly unraveled for the left-hander and the rest of the Bears in the top of the third when Twin Valley (41-13) loaded the bases with one out on two singles and an error. Then Griesemer fielded a roller in front of the plate and flipped to catcher Cory Fox, but Kyle Trivits was called safe on a close play.

Ryan Plank followed with a rip past third for a two-run single and matters got worse on a dropped infield popup.

“Start out with a hit batter and you’re in trouble,” said Moatz.

“We got some key hits and kept the inning going,” said Twin Valley coach Matt Royer. “They had a couple errors and we got a couple more hits.”

That made it difficult to come back against Raider right-hander Tyler Sternat, who had pitched into the eighth inning in a win over the Bears in the Region Two championship game and thrown a complete-game win in the state tournament to clinch a spot in national play.

The Bears got on the board in the fifth on singles by Fox, Dalton Hughes, and Zach Moser. But Sternat went the distance on a seven-hitter and walked only one while striking out four. The Raiders committed only one error while picking up 12 hits.

“They hit and they don’t hurt themselves and their pitchers throw strikes,” said Moatz.

“We just don’t walk people,” added Royer. “To score against us, you’re going to have to hit. He (Sternat) is just fantastic. He’s not overpowering, but he’s in and out.”

Royer also thought that a key was his team’s desire to keep playing, even after losing in the opening round.

“It’s so mental,” he said. “You’ve just got to grind it out. It’s as tough mentally as it is physically.”

Boyertown had dropped into the losers’ bracket with a 6-4 loss late Friday night to host Brooklawn that did not end until close to midnight due to a backup caused by heavy rains earlier in the day. The Bears fell behind 5-0 in that one, but Pavlik came on in relief and allowed just one run in six innings, allowing the Bears to get back into the game on an RBI double by Griesemer in the third, an unearned run in the seventh, and a two-RBI triple in the eighth by Brett Moyer.

NOTES

Luke Stong went 2-for-4 against Twin Valley and Ronnie Mauger – the only 19-year-old on the Boyertown roster – made the defensive play of the game with a diving catch in center field in the eighth. … Izzack Albright had three hits for the Raiders and Gabe Witmer, and Trivits two apiece. ... Moser, Mauger, Griesemer, and Stong each collected four hits in the three games. ... Twin Valley won six of eight games from the Bears during the season, but Boyertown won the state championship game against the Raiders.